1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle driving support apparatus which executes an automatic follow-up control to a preceding vehicle which travels ahead of an own vehicle and is detected by a stereoscopic camera, a single lens camera, a millimeter wave radar, and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, there has been put into practical use a traveling control apparatus which detects forward traveling circumstances by cameras and the like mounted on a vehicle and detects a preceding vehicle from the traveling circumstance data to thereby execute a control to follow up the preceding vehicle or to keep an intervehicle distance between an own vehicle and the preceding vehicle constant.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-32909, for example, discloses a vehicle speed control apparatus which accumulates intervehicle distance data in a learning section, the intervehicle distance data being detected by a distance sensor in a non-automatic cruising mode in which a controller is not operated. Further, the vehicle speed control apparatus sets a target intervehicle distance based on the intervehicle distance data accumulated in the learning section in an automatic cruising mode in which the controller is operated so that an intervehicle distance type feedback control can be appropriately executed by reflecting the preference and the habit of a driver.
However, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-32909 described above, the intervehicle distance data is accumulated in the learning section when a relative speed of approximately zero continues between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle for a predetermined period of time. Accordingly, even if, for example, the own vehicle travels at a medium speed on a highway while involuntarily decreasing the intervehicle distance due to a slight traffic jam, the decreased intervehicle distance is learned, and thus there is a possibility that the intervehicle distance, which is not preferable to execute an ordinary follow-up traveling control, is learned.
Further, in the learning conditions of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-32909 described above, since the relative speed between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle must be accumulated as data, the difference between the speed of the preceding vehicle and that of the own vehicle must be determined at all times by calculating the speed of the preceding vehicle, from which a problem arises in that an amount of calculation increases.
An object of the present invention, which was made in view of the above circumstances, is to provide a vehicle driving support apparatus which makes it possible to accurately learn necessary data by a minimum amount of calculation and can execute an automatic follow-up control with a good drive feeling that reflects the preference and the habit of the driver.